Re: Web Copyright Message - Comments? Enforceable?

From: John Allison <allisonj[_at_]mail.utexas.edu>
Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 07:33:02 -0500

On 10/24/97, Lee Lau <lau[_at_]wedge.com> wrote:
>
> This raises a side-issue. Some web-site owners/admin, for reasons of
> commercial expediency do not ask subscribers to sign a paper version of
> a subscription agreement. Instead they present the agreement in
> electronic form and ask the prospective subscriber to click on an "I
> accept" button to indicate acceptance.
>
> Some software also uses this form of "point and click" license.
>
> My feeling has been that these types of agreements and licenses, while
> perhaps not as satisfactory as good ol' paper, are definitely more
> satisfactory than shrinkwrap or "Standard Disclaimer" wording (where the
> wording is included in a link.
>
> I've looked for case-law considering the enforceability of such "point
> and click" agreements but haven't found any. Is there any?

I can't cite any case law, but see Mark A. Lemley, Shrinkwraps in Cyberspace, 35 Jurimetrics Journal 311 (1995), and Robert L. Dunne, Deterring Unauthorized Access to computers: Controlling Behavior in Cyberspace Through a Contract Law Paradigm, 36 Jurimetrics Journal 1 (1994). Lemley critiques Dunne. Both are pre-ProCD.

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John R. Allison
Graduate School of Business
University of Texas at Austin
allisonj[_at_]mail.utexas.edu

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Received on Sat Oct 25 1997 - 12:22:03 GMT